Kyle Kuzma says he is “gonna surprise a lot of people” with the work he has done this summer

Kyle Kuzma
SHENZHEN, CHINA – OCTOBER 12: #0 Kyle Kuzma of the Los Angeles Lakers looks on before the match against the Brooklyn Nets during a preseason game as part of 2019 NBA Global Games China at Shenzhen Universiade Center on October 12, 2019 in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. (Photo by Zhong Zhi/Getty Images)

As we head into the Los Angeles Lakers’ third game on Sunday night against the Charlotte Hornets, the team is still without their third-year forward, Kyle Kuzma.

Kuzma is continuing to rehab from a left foot/ankle injury that he sustained in August while with Team USA. At the time, it was suspected that he was being held out of the rest of Team USA’s activities to err on the side of caution with the Lakers’ season right around the corner. That was eventually proven to be wrong, as the Lakers announced towards the end of September that he’d be out until at least mid-October. It’s October 27th, with Kyle Kuzma still slowly progressing to his first game of the season with 5-on-5 practices still on the checklist.

 

Today, Kuzma spoke to the media for the first time since the Lakers’ media day. In true Kuzma fashion, he wasn’t short on confidence.

Much has been made this summer about Kuzma’s progression and how he was making big strides in the offseason. In his second year, Kuzma regressed a little as a shooter although he seemed to have made slight improvements to his passing and defense, two areas where Kuzma was severely lacking during his rookie year.

Kuzma definitely isn’t wrong in saying that the Lakers could use what he’s worked on this summer. Danny Green is pretty obviously the third-best offensive player on the Lakers at the moment, but even Green isn’t much of a playmaker as he is an elite 3-and-D specialist. The Lakers need a playmaker on the perimeter as Anthony Davis has been doing most of his damage in the post and LeBron James can’t play all 48 minutes.

Will Kyle Kuzma be able to fulfill the team’s needs? He certainly thinks so, but offseason hype doesn’t always necessarily translate to on-court results. We’ll see how Kuzma looks once he returns, which seems to be happening sooner rather than later.

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